They loved for a long while, treasuring each other, giving and taking, slowly and sweetly, whereas on their first night together, it had been pure lust, this night of love was founded on emotion and need, entwined with desire, and he held himself back, giving them as much time together as they could, making her come over and again, until he couldn’t hold his passion in him any longer and he cried out as his orgasm overwhelmed him and they clung to one another in sheer pleasure and release.
They were silent as they kissed softly in their afterglow, touching and tasting gently, letting their bodies calm and ease. They laid together in her bed, holding one another in the darkness of the night and he whispered to her finally that he had to go.
She knew that the moment would come. She looked up at him and he gazed back down at her as he lay beside her, raising himself up slightly.
“I don’t want to go...” he told her, “and I know I shouldn’t have been here to begin with, but I needed you so much. I’m sorry. You know this can’t be...” he paused and looked at her with pain in his eyes.
She nodded. “I know,” she whispered back. “I’m not the one you’re sleeping beside tonight. I’m not sorry this happened,” she said, gazing at him and touching his cheek. She wasn’t sorry it had happened, but she was hurt that he was leaving to go back to his fiancée. Still, she had known he wasn’t hers and that she couldn’t keep him, and yet she had wanted him so much that she had let her desire and passion for him overwhelm everything else.
“Even though this can’t ever happen again, I’m not sorry for what we shared, I’m just sorry that I have to leave you and that this can’t be more than it is,” he whispered to her, leaning down and kissing her again, taking her mouth with his tenderly, and moving his lips over hers with some small hunger before letting her go again.
“I’ll see you soon,” he told her. “I’ll see you and Carly soon...” he amended.
She nodded and squeezed his hand before he let her go and walked out of the door.
She turned toward the window and looked out into the dark night, and the moonlight on the mountains as a tear rolled down her cheek and her heart ached for him.
The Final Chapter
Morning dawned and Jonathon woke in his own room, though he hadn’t slept much or slept fitfully. He sighed and covered his face with a pillow, wondering why he had let himself fall to his desires. He had made love with Maggie when he was engaged to Janis, and he knew he couldn’t be with Maggie. His heart ached and tortured him and as he showered and dressed and Maggie’s sad face when he had kissed her goodbye would not leave his mind.
He wrestled with it in his mind as he walked out into the kitchen and poured himself some coffee and Janis walked into the kitchen, her blonde hair pulled back, wearing a silk blouse and jeans. She crossed her arms and sat down at the table, giving him a narrow look.
It was the fact that she wasn’t looking at him with any measure of real emotion or love that struck him, and he was stunned at the realization. The way that Maggie looked at him set him on fire and made him feel like he mattered, but the way that Janis looked at him made him feel anxiety and strain. He didn’t feel that same fire, and he didn’t feel comfort with her. He looked at her as she sat there quietly, trying to remember why exactly it was that he had asked her to marry him.
“Well? Have you given some thought to committing yourself to me?” she asked coolly. “Are you going to give up that woman and her child? I know if you think about it, you’ll realize that it’s really the only right thing to do.”
Jonathon looked at her and shook his head. The woman was just not going to give up on it. “I gave you my decision last night when we had our discussion. She stays, the baby stays, and if you want to stay and marry me, then you need to accept that they are part of the family. Can you accept that or is our wedding off?” he asked simply.
“What do you mean is the wedding off?” Keith asked as he and Eva walked into the kitchen and hugged both Jonathon and Janis.
Jonathon looked at Janis meaningfully and she stood up to greet her soon to be in-laws. “Oh, we were just having a discussion, of course the wedding isn’t off. There is no way I could let this man go. We’re just working out some of the wrinkles in our expectations, that’s all,” she said, smiling at him.
She walked up to Jonathon and sighed, sliding her hands around his waist. “We don’t have to talk about it now, dear, we can talk about it later and work it out. Let’s not spoil a lovely morning.”
He shook his head. “Now works for me. I’m not going to change my mind, that’s how it’s going to be. You’re welcome to accept that or leave.”
Eva looked at him in alarm and Keith frowned.
Janis looked at all of them and laughed lightly. “Oh, my dearest, I could never ever let you go, so of course we’ll just work through it. It will be an adjustment for me, and I can get used to it. It’s no problem. We’ll make it work out all right.”
Jonathon watched her as her mood suddenly changed and she seemed to accept his terms easily, without any hesitation whatsoever and he wondered at the sudden change in her.
“Okay. If it works for you, then we can go forward with it,” he said quietly, reaching for his coffee cup and sipping it.
“You two have everything all sorted out?” his mother asked him, looking at him intently.
He nodded. “It seems like we do,” he said simply.
“Well, that’s a relief, because Janis dear, the money for your parent’s home will be ready this afternoon. We can go over to the bank and have it wired to them for purchase of their home.” Eva smiled at her and hugged her warmly.
“We’ll have your family all taken care of in no time,” she said. “And the neighbor won’t get the property.”
Keith smiled at her and nodded his head in solidarity.
Janis hugged them both tightly and kissed their cheeks. “This means everything to me!” she said happily, and then she turned and looked at Jonathon, her eyes shining as they hadn’t been the whole time she had been at his ranch, and she embraced him tightly.
“It’s all because of you, and your love. Thank you so much. I’m sorry if I’ve been testy, it’s just this problem for my parents was really hard for me and I needed to find a way to help them, but here you are.” She turned and looked at Eva and Keith. “Here you all are, saving the day and making my parent’s lives so much better, and in the meantime getting such a gorgeous property.” She beamed at them as brightly as the summer sun outside.
Keith coughed a little. “Do you know by chance when your parents will be coming back to the states? We don’t want to rush them, but we wondered about when we might be able to see the property.”
She grinned. “Oh, I think they’ll be all moved out of there within a month of receiving the money, so you can go down and the place will be all yours!” She grinned happily at them.
Eva and Keith looked at each other in excitement. “That sounds fine to us! We were talking about jumping right in and spending this winter down there,” Keith said with a blush and a grin. “It’s just so beautiful.”
Janis nodded and winked at them. “It really is. I love being there.”
“We can’t wait to be there, too,” Keith said happily. “I’m going to go fishing every day and Eva wants to work on her garden. They say there’s almost nothing that won’t grow there. We’ve looked it all up. It’s been real exciting thinking of how it will be when we get there.”
Just then there was a ring at the doorbell. “Oh, I’ll get it.” Jonathon said as he disentangled himself from Janis and walked out of the room. He headed toward the door as their conversation in the kitchen continued.
He reached the door and opened it to find a tall, well-built, wealthy-looking Hispanic man standing there. He was wearing an expensive suit and he held his dark glasses in his hand.
“Hello,” the man said. “I’m Ricardo Martinez. I’m looking for Jonathon Tanner and Janis Preston,” he said politely.
&n
bsp; “I’m Jonathon Tanner,” Jonathon replied and tilted his head. “How can I help you?” he asked.
The man lifted his chin and looked Jonathon in his eyes. “Is Janis here as well?” he asked.
Jonathon nodded. “She is. What can we do for you?”
Ricardo pulled out his phone and dialed as he looked at Jonathon. “It’s not what you can do for me, my friend, but what I’m going to do for you. There is something about her that you do not know, and I only hope I’m not too late to help you.”
Ricardo spoke into his phone. “She’s here,” he said.
Jonathon’s brow lowered. “What’s going on?” he asked lowering his tone and stepping into the doorway to block it with his body.
As Ricardo looked at him, seven police cars, four of them under cover, came rushing up the road and stopped suddenly in the driveway and moments later the house was surrounded and every officer Jonathon could see was crouched low with a firearm pulled and pointed toward them.
“What in the hell is going on?” Jonathon asked loudly, just as his parents and Janis walked into the foyer behind Jonathon.
“Jonathon? What’s going on?” his father asked, looking toward the door.
Ricardo looked at Jonathon and sighed. “We are here to arrest Janis Preston, or... Helen Grout, which is her real name. The sheriff has a warrant,” he said quietly as the sheriff came up the stairs and nodded at Jonathon.
“Hello, Jonathon. Good to see you back. You’re going to have to let us in, son,” he said, handing Jonathon a sheet of paper.
Jonathon looked at the paper and saw the judges’ name on it.
He stood back and opened the door, and Sheriff Kemp came into the house with Ricardo Martinez.
Keith saw Sheriff Kemp and frowned and Janis saw Ricardo and screamed.
“No! Ricardo, what are you doing here? I... I was just going to come back to you in a couple more weeks!” she breathed out with a scared half-smile.
“Save it, Helen. I know who you are now, and I know what you’ve done. I’m pressing charges on you, and you’re going to be arrested. There’s no way out of this for you now,” Ricardo said coldly to her.
She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck, “Please! Please don’t do it!” she begged with tears in her eyes.
He pulled her arms from his neck and pushed her away from him.
Keith stepped forward and looked at Ricardo and Sheriff Kemp. “Now hold on a moment here, what’s going on?”
Ricardo bowed slightly, extending his hand. “Señor, I am Ricardo Martinez. I am from Costa Rica. I have been chasing this woman for months now, and I lost her for a little while in New York, but then when she traveled here to your state, we were able to find her again and come to arrest her.”
“Why are you arresting her?” Eva asked, her fingers against her lower lip in confusion.
Ricardo turned to her. “Señorita, she is a fraud. She’s a con artist. She gives people false names and then she cons them out of fortunes. She stole seven million dollars from me,” he said sadly. “I was going to marry her, we were engaged and she told me a sad story about her parents and how they had to sell their home in Beverly Hills because her mother was dying of cancer, and I bought it, sight unseen, except that what I bought wasn’t a home that was for sale, and it wasn’t her home to sell. She got the money and then she vanished. I had no idea where she was, but I soon hired people to find her, and now we have. Now she’s going to jail.”
Keith and Eva stared at her with open mouths. “She told us that same story except she was selling us a house in Costa Rica and it was her dad that had cancer and he needed the money to come back to the states so he could get medical treatment!” Keith raised his voice in growing anger.
Ricardo’s eyes widened. “She owns no property in Costa Rica. Did she show you photographs of a place?” he asked.
Eva went over to the table and picked up Janis’ tablet, turning it on and handing it to Ricardo. Janis slowly began to back step by step toward the door, but Jonathon saw her and went to her, grabbing her arm and holding her tightly.
Ricardo shook his head. “This is my home. That’s why she has so many photographs of it.”
Eva pointed to the one of Janis with the older couple. “Well, she said these were her parents... aren’t they?” she asked with amazement at what was unfolding before her eyes.
He shook his head. “No, these are friends of mine from Florida. They came to visit me and she took a photograph with them. She was just using it to make her lie look more true.” He shook his head and looked up at her with sorrow in his eyes.
“I love you, carina, and I would have done anything for you, but my love, and not even my wealth was enough for you, you still had to steal money from me and run. It isn’t that the money you stole hurts me, it’s that you lied to me about loving me.” He sighed and shook his head, his heavy heart on his sleeve.
Then he looked at up the Tanners. “She hasn’t gotten any money from you, has she?” he asked quietly.
Keith shook his head. “No, we had it ready at the bank and we were going to go get it wired to her account this afternoon, so you’ve just saved us from that. We owe you, Mr. Martinez.”
Keith looked at him with a grateful and sorrowful gaze.
Ricardo shook his head. “No, you don’t owe me anything, but she does, and she is going to go to prison for it.”
Sheriff Kemp took Janis as she wept silently, and Jonathon released her arm. He read her Miranda Rights to her and then handcuffed her and walked her out of the door. Keith shook his head and ran his hand through what little hair he had left.
“Well, Mr. Martinez, where are you staying? Are you somewhere in town?” he asked, looking up at the man who had just saved him two million dollars.
“I’m at a hotel in town,” he said quietly.
Keith sighed. “You saved us a heap of trouble. If you would like to stay here, you’re more than welcome to, and we’ve got plenty of space. At the very least we’d love to have dinner with you to thank you for what you have done for us.”
Ricardo smiled and tilted his head. “You know, I would like that. I will be glad to join you for dinner,” he said humbly.
The police took Janis/Helen off, and Eva, Keith, and Jonathon welcomed Ricardo into their home. He had dinner with them and it went so well that he accepted their offer and stayed with them for two nights before he left town, and he invited them to come to his property in Costa Rica anytime they wanted to.
***
Two days felt like a million years to Maggie as she waited to see Jonathon. He had called her to tell her what had happened, but he felt as if he had to stay with his parents until Ricardo had left, and he had to go to the police station with his parents to give them a statement about everything that had happened.
After Ricardo had gone, Jonathon drove to Maggie’s house and she let him in the door with a big smile and a hug.
“How are you doing? Are you okay?” she asked hopefully.
He nodded as he held her close to him. “We’re all fine. She’s gone and no one was hurt or used. Everything is fine, and in fact,” he said, letting her go and looking at her, “I’m more than fine, because now I get the chance to ask you to be my girl.” He held her in his arms and smiled warmly at her.
“Maggie Wilson, be my girl... please,” he asked with a wide smile.
She nodded and leaned up to kiss him. “With pleasure,” she said happily.
Epilogue
Sun filtered through the palm trees and glinted off of the water splashing through the waterfall as a soft violin played and Maggie made her way through a garden, her long white dress trailing behind her on the soft green grass. She walked slowly, making her way toward Jonathon who was waiting for her at the feet of a pastor.
Keith and Eva stood near them, Eva holding Carly and kissing her cheek softly as they watched the ceremony. Ricardo stood beside Jonathon and when Maggie reached them all, the pastor spoke a prayer and asked them
to give their wedding vows to each other. They promised to love and honor one another, to share their lives no matter if things were good or bad, whether they were sick or in good health, all of their days, and then they exchanged rings with each other.
The pastor proclaimed them man and wife and then Jonathon kissed Maggie, and those around them cheered happily for them. Their daughter squealed and clapped her hands joyously for her mommy and daddy.
As they celebrated over a delicious feast, Maggie hugged Ricardo and smiled at him.
“Thank you so much for letting us have the wedding here, and the honeymoon. It’s such a wonderful place, and we couldn’t have asked for a more special ceremony. You’ve been so good to us,” she said with a sweet smile.
“Mrs. Tanner, it is my great honor to be with all of you on this special day, and to share my home with you. Now this garden will always hold this beautiful memory for me, and whenever I walk through it, I will think of this afternoon, and of your love with Jonathon, and our friendship, and I will cherish it.” He smiled and then reached over to shake Jonathon’s hand.
Keith laughed and lifted his beer to toast Ricardo. “I’m just glad we aren’t in Wyoming right now... it’s freezing!”
Eva smiled at Keith. “Happy Valentine’s Day, dear.” She winked at him and he laughed at her.
It was a beautiful, romantic wedding, and an even more wonderful honeymoon as Jonathon and Maggie left Carly with her grandparents and Uncle Ricardo, and went to a hideaway in the mountains, celebrating their love and marriage together, and two weeks later they returned to Ricardo’s home and spent a little more time with him before returning to the states.
Keith was talking about buying a property not far from Ricardo’s that was for sale in a legitimate deal, and he and Eva had told Jonathon and Maggie that they were going to give them the home in Jackson Hole when the sale went through for the property in Costa Rica.
By the time Maggie graduated in May, Keith and Eva were in their new home near Ricardo’s and had no intention of ever leaving it, and Jonathon and Maggie were settled with Carly into the ranch. She had graduated, and had gotten the job that she had sought out, allowing her to work as she had wanted to for so long, while staying in Jackson Hole.
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